Tag Archives: Bailout

On behalf of Frontiers of Freedom, we write today to express opposition to the “Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Stability Act” (PROMESA). Upon taking office, Conservatives in Congress made a promise to their constituents and the American people to end Washington cronyism by standing for the rule of law and the interests of the American taxpayer. A vote for the PROMESA does exactly the opposite.

The PROMESA bill is an unapologetic bailout of Puerto Rico’s government on the backs of average everyday American retirees, pensioners and investors across the Country, despite the fact that those bondholders played no role in the Commonwealth’s wanton disregard for the principles of sound governance. Further, the bill threatens to put American taxpayers broadly and directly on the hook for the mess in Puerto Rico. Continue reading →

FAIRFAX, VA. – In a letter to House Republicans sent today, Frontiers of Freedom urged conservatives to reject the recently introduced PROMESA bailout legislation for Puerto Rico. The measure, which was introduced by Rep. Sean Duffy, puts Puerto Rico’s bondholders on the hook for decades of government waste and jeopardizes the American taxpayer.

“Some Republicans have been too quick to defend this misguided bill, claiming that it is not a bailout because it does not send taxpayer funds directly to Puerto Rico,” said Frontiers of Freedom President George Landrith. “But that claim misses the point and is not in line with reality. This is a direct bailout at the expense of the Commonwealth’s bondholders, who are regular American taxpayers themselves, and it risks putting all taxpayers on the hook for a taking of their retirement money. This problem was created by decades of the Commonwealth’s terrible fiscal mismanagement and atrocious policies that killed off jobs and crippled the Commonwealth’s economy. A bailout won’t fix this problem. It goes far deeper than that. Real and comprehensive reforms are needed. A bailout is actually a step deeper into the abyss.” Continue reading →

Just over a year ago, in November 2014, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe beamed with pride at having concluded a deal to bring 349 jobs to the ailing economy around Appomattox. The plan was to use various state economic development incentives, including an upfront payment of $1.4 million from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund. From the Governor’s press release at the time:

Governor Terry McAuliffe announced today that Lindenburg Industry, LLC, a subsidiary of a Chinese-owned corporation, will invest $113 million to establish an industrial honeycomb manufacturing operation in the Town of Appomattox in Appomattox County. This project, which represents the first new company announcement in Appomattox in 15 years and the largest since Thomasville Furniture began construction in 1972, is a direct result of the Governor’s meeting with company officials in Beijing, China during his Asia Marketing Mission last month. Virginia successfully competed against North Carolina for the project, which will create 349 new jobs.

But, as it turns out, McAuliffe’s enthusiasm about prevailing over the Tar Heel State was misplaced. You see, the Chinese “company” has now apparently bailed out, without refunding the Governor’s check. It seems that folks in North Carolina were a wee bit more responsible with taxpayer funds. They did background research that the Governor’s office did not. In fact, an investigation by The Roanoke Times found that: Continue reading →

Millions of people around the world are emerging from poverty thanks to rising economic freedom. But by sharp contrast, America’s economic freedom has been on a declining path over the past decade.

According to the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual publication by The Heritage Foundation, America’s economic freedom has tumbled. With losses of economic freedom in eight of the past nine years, the U.S. has tied its worst score ever, wiping out a decade of progress.

How dare the Obama administration bail out insurance companies with our money in order to hide ObamaCare’s failures. Thursday, just hours after giant insurer UnitedHealthcare said it’s losing money selling ObamaCare plans and will likely exit the health exchanges next year, the Obama administration quietly promised to bail out insurers for their losses — using your money.

Nearly all insurers are bleeding red ink trying to sell the unworkable plans. Without a bailout, more insurers will abandon ObamaCare, pushing it closer to its demise. A bailout would benefit insurers and the Democratic Party, which is desperate to cover up the health law’s failure. Ironically Democrats (including Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders) bad-mouth bank bailouts but are all for insurance-company bailouts. Truth is, it’s a ripoff for taxpayers, who shouldn’t have to pay for this sleazy coverup. Continue reading →

How many times did the Obama Administration promise that GM would repay every dime of the taxpayer provided bailout? And how many times have you heard the lie that GM has fully repaid the federal government for the taxpayer provided bailout? The truth is the taxpayers lost $10 billion on GM, but GM CEO says the taxpayer took a risk like any other investor. That sucking sound you hear is the government taking $10 billion out of the taxpayer’s pocket.

by Todd Spangler

The General Motors bailout may have cost the government $10 billion, but GM CEO Dan Akerson rejects any suggestion that the company should compensate for the losses.

He says Treasury officials took the same risk assumed by anyone who purchases stock.

“I would not accept the premise that this was a bad deal,” Akerson said during a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club in Washington. He also said the government’s $49.5-billion aid to GM helped save billions of dollars in tax revenue and government social services. Continue reading →

The nearly $3 billion “Cash for Clunkers” program approved by Congress in 2009 did little to boost the environment and created few jobs, a new study released Wednesday found.

A Brookings Institution study found the $2.85 billion program “provided a short-term boost in vehicle sales, which were pulled forward from sales that would have occurred in subsequent months. There was a small increase in employment but the implied cost per job created ($1.4 million) was far higher than other fiscal stimulus programs.”

The study — from researchers Ted Gayer and Emily Parker — said the “Car Allowance Rebate System,” or CARS did little to boost employment. This is at least the fourth major study since 2012 that has raised questions about the value of the program. Continue reading →

It should come as no surprise that politically connected banks received larger bailout loans from the federal government during the 2007 financial crisis than banks that spent less on lobbying and campaign contributions. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis by Prof. Benjamin Blau of Utah State University. His findings were based on data from the Federal Reserve and published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Continue reading →

Once one of the “bluest” of America’s blue chip corporations, General Motors has seen better days. Early in President Barack Obama’s first term, it was nearly subsumed into the U.S. government on the grounds that a federal bailout – which amounted to a near takeover of the company – was necessary in order to save it from bankruptcy and to protect tens of thousands of American jobs.

The president campaigned for re-election on the success of his bailout of the auto industry which, truth be told, was confined to GM and Chrysler. There are plenty of companies that were and still are building cars and trucks in the United States that did just fine without the kind of interventions needed to keep two of what used to be called “The Big Three” from sliding into an economic abyss despite the recession. Continue reading →

President Obama is proud of his bailout of General Motors. That’s good, because, if he wins a second term, he is probably going to have to bail GM out again. The company is once again losing market share, and it seems unable to develop products that are truly competitive in the U.S. market.

Right now, the federal government owns 500,000,000 shares of GM, or about 26% of the company. It would need to get about $53.00/share for these to break even on the bailout, but the stock closed at only $20.21/share on Tuesday. This left the government holding $10.1 billion worth of stock, and sitting on an unrealized loss of $16.4 billion. Continue reading →

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Frontiers of Freedom, founded in 1995 by U.S. Senator Malcolm Wallop, is an educational foundation whose mission is to promote the principles of individual freedom, peace through strength, limited government, ...